Utah State University Libraries provides $30,000 annually to support USU authors with open-access publishing costs.

Eligible applicants, including faculty, staff, and students, can apply for up to 50% of the Article Processing Charges (APCs) up to $1500 for articles published in Gold Open Access journals. The fund is reopening this year on July 1, 2026 through July 10, 2026.

Recipients are required to deposit a copy of their published article in the USU institutional repository. Please note that awards cannot be used for other publishing expenses, such as page charges or color figure fees, nor can they be used to reimburse APCs that have already been paid. Applications will be reviewed using a transparent evaluation matrix to ensure fairness and consistency. This new approach reflects our goal of maximizing the impact of every dollar in the fund by helping elevate work that might otherwise go unsupported.

It is also important to note that full time USU employees continue to be covered under the University’s broader Open Access Policy. This allows faculty and staff to publish their work behind a paywall and still share a preprint version of the article in the Utah State University Institutional Repository.

For more details on the application process, evaluation criteria, or to preview the new matrix, visit the link below.

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